I went to school with the guy who posted the picture at the top there, known him since second grade. He knows me well enough to know... certain things I bite at.. like fish and bait. He knew I would say something... because Iv'e always been mouthy and mean in person about what I perceive to be injustice. I fell for it, naturally... but I think I did OK. Maybe I have aspergers or something, who knows. Some days I seem sane, other days I am a cartoon character in a world of consequences, frustrated and suppressed, hiding a two ton anvil just behind my back.

I'd leave the country if I weren't certain of a most important fact. Idiots are everywhere. Universal. Hell, saw one in my bathroom this morning on the other side of the sink... just playin' a banjo.

Have been comparitively busy this week. Unfortunately personal computer is down so I am relegated the family's machine. Not entirely a bad thing since people actually get to see me now and I'm reading books.

The Limbo I have been in since leaving University in may continues. My own lack of inexperience (Since this is essentially looking for my first job) exasserbated by my own reluctance to start and living in the middle of nowhere don't help.

On the up side my drive/ animus etc. has been on the up eversince I got a fortune cookie saying "Your hard work will pay off" I think it's having a psychosomatic effect.

First of all, congratulations on the Eagle Award, Warren, Paul, Ariana and Avatar.

Second of all, happy birthday, Oddcult.

Third of all, happy birthday, Veronika.

Fourth of all, good evening, everyone.

Fifth of all:

After many attempts I have unstickied myself from the bed and shaken off rigor mortis, only to go into another working frenzy and collapse again. One day ago my pulse returned and I find myself strong enough to blink without effort.

About two weeks ago I worked as a receptionist at a Gynecology and Obstetrics Convention. Not the first time I've done so, but this time the administration made a point of fucking with us. First, they forgot to number the rooms on our schedules. We had the name of each room, but fuck you if we were going to remember the separate names of ten lecture rooms, each comprised of three to five very long words, and associate these names with the rooms' locations. We received the schedules half an hour before the convention began, and even then doctors were already coming up to us asking for directions.

I ran around the convention writing down the rooms' numbers on my schedule, and then I drew a blueprint of the floor to help locate them. When I went back to the lecture room I had been assigned to, I met the door.

You pull it from the outside and push it from the inside. It clicks loudly when you pull it, louder when you push it. It has to be opened and closed constantly for doctors who arrive late or must answer their cellphones. And it's installed on a lecture room.

To make things worse, no-one could understand the locking mechanism. I left the door closed before heading out to do something, and when I came back my superior was in front of the door, panting.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I had to run up here. Your co-worker just called my cellphone. She's stuck inside the lecture room."

"Stuck?"

I opened the door, revealing my stunned co-worker staring at me in awe as if I'd just pulled a rabbit out of my ass.

It quickly became clear that closing the door was a bad idea. So I stopped doing it, I just left it as closed as possible without clicking the lock during lectures. But the air from inside would force it open again, and that's how I discovered the fucking door creaks loudly too.

Almost every door on the nine other lecture rooms, of course, had miraculous, time-tested rotating doorknobs.

This is me on the final hours of the last day. Earlier, everyone decided to fuck up simultaneously. I was with my co-worker in the room when we received a certificate. We give those to the lecturers after their lectures. The one we received was for a doctor who wasn't on the schedule.

"He's replacing another lecturer who won't be coming," we were informed, and discarded the absent lecturer's certificate.

A while later, the lecturer who wasn't supposed to show up showed up. I ran downstairs to make him a new certificate while my co-worker discarded the new one we had received. When I came back up, the doctor who was supposed to replace the doctor who wasn't supposed to show up also showed up. Down I go to make another new certificate, while the doctors politely decided who would give which lecture. This happened twice that day.

Then there's the annoying bastards, such as the doctor who insisted on an uncommon way to let the lecturers know their time is up: going up to them, interrupting them and saying "your time is up". We tried to show him that the huge countdown timer in this gigantic screen...

... would certainly do the trick. But he said, "Oh, in Minas Gerais [his home city], when the lecturer's time is up, the sound of a horse neighing interrupts him and forces him to stop. It's quite effective."

Still, I like working at medical conventions. It's fairly unpredictable and you meet nice and/or crazy people. It is, however, exhausting. I was half-unconscious for the entire week after the gig.

And more recently I updated my webcomic to a far more time-consuming art style. I also had to make new icons, which led to three days of nearly non-stop drawing.

Things have started settling down, though. Tonight I can relax a little. Fucking insane month, October was.

Spent the afternoon at my aunt & uncle's 25th wedding anniversary shindig, which was somewhere between "fine" and "boring". Plenty of family and friends-of-family that had no idea who I was, since I have changed somewhat since being the ringbearer at age 5.

Turned 30 a month ago, which I wasn't sure how to react to. The weirdest part has been not my age, but realising that everyone I know is married and has or is expecting children. Being a mostly-content bachelor, it's a bit strange.

Spent the past week doing web design for a soon-to-be-launched project of mine. It's been going painfully slowly, but I've been blasting some happy hardcore which has kept me going.

And now I want to go to a rave. Haven't been to one in 8 years or so, and am wondering if 30 is too old to attend. I always recall there being one creepy old guy standing at the back of the dancefloor, and I never want to be him.

Apparently some chemical was used somewhere at the company during painting/laying down new floor/whatever (got conflicting reports from co-workers, will know more on Tuesday) which apparently is highly toxic and some woman fainted. We were all led out of the main hall into the "social room" and outside and after half hour we have returned back in... only to have MORE people faint. So we got evacuated again and this time everyone had to go outside (luckily the weather was nice) plus we took a different route.

Five minutes after that we're seeing the "faintees" (is that a word?) being led out one by one. The last woman had to be carried out, she was still unconcious.

NO ambulance was called. The directors let us in after the FIRST person fainted even though they KNEW this stuff could be still dangerous. And apparently LAST YEAR they had TWO similar incidents with a TOTAL of about 20 people hospitalized. Ugh.

This was my second time being evacuated from there since I started work late May. First time it was a small fire in the server room (a short circuit caused the electrolyte to heat up and catch fire which spread across the room but not beyond that).

Today had some pc issues (but since the story is not that important I'll sum it up this way: don't be a retard and don't touch the graphic card with your bare fingers while the pc is working; now I'm on the onboard integrated VIA chipset which took me HOURS to find drivers for, ugh).

Is it Plug Time? I'm selling my collection of short comics titled Coilstar Illustrated #1. It's nine comics, ranging from 1 to 14 pages. All in color, all quite different from each other too.Intirgued (I hope so)? Here, have a preview condensed into a single image:

The book's sold through Indyplanet and I have sold three copies so far. Need to sell further twelve to call it a small success, so if there are any takers...

I'm lettering three comics right now, and sketching out a couple of my own, and hope to be working on one with kpatrickglover sometime soon. Somethings wrong with my right eye today, feels like I jammed something in it, but I don't remember doing so.I'm doing T-shirts and coffee mugs, here. Not a lot there yet, but, more will be added so come back often.Here's an example:

I interviewed for a managemnt job in DC and a Director of Ops gig in Burbank this week. So my place-of-residence for 2011 is unknown. My woman is now on a discarding rampage, but that might also have to do with the 6 hours of Hoarders she watches a day.Also, she has a column in the Guardian explaining while she's sitting out the midterm elections, and we're curled up on the couch reading all the hateful, hateful commentshttp://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/oct/29/us-midterm-elections-2010-us-politics1

I don't remember much from real life this week, haha. Just kinda coasted through it.Did however complete a new Space Shark this week, woot!It guest starred my home girl Miss Destructo. A little bonus commentary on that episode: I had most of the art completed over two months ago, but then all of a sudden I stressed out because I didn't want it to be shitty and didn't wanna disappoint Miss D. So I completed a different episode in the meantime, which ended up being a good ep to kick off Space Shark Year 2 with. anyway, she thought it was badass so I am happy and relieved about that. Now onto the next strip!

I also kinda wanted to go to the LB comic-con but I can't afford to pay $25 just to walk through the door to meet creators i admire or pay whatever the fuck parking costs in that area. Avatar is there so I would've liked to say hi or whatever. I can wait until the next SDCC though. I still can't believe how much fun that day was *siiiiiiigh*

Another quick hello from outside of Internetland. It's very interesting out here, all of the leaves are turning various shades of red and fiery orange. I've just come back from a halloween party with my oldest friends, which I declare a glorious success.

Hope you're all doing well... and away I go once again.

PS: anyone who says the Human Centipede is even remotely disturbing needs a golf club wrapped around their face.

Wife and I took our daughter to Disneyland Tuesday night for Halloween time after school ... for the third year and she danced her little feet off. I built this for her butshe declared the old one easier to play with -- we shopped today. Pretty much domestic bliss ...

When we bought a case of beer - we were given special anti-flat beer glasses.

Currently wrapping my 2 week stint at Temporary Location Number One. Due to a combination of logistics, and needing to get certain bits of productivity done, I've opted out of this evening's social festivities. In turn, that will allow me to get the $5 Icon and $15 No-Frills Commission Art Projects off the ground by Monday, as well as get my crap ready to go. I can go to a late-afternoon/evening gathering tomorrow night, then hit the road early Monday to Temporary Location Number Two.

Hopefully, come mid-afternoon on Monday, I'll have the desktop fully set up, and be able to jump right back into work.

Just helped my friend the wedding photographer shoot a wedding in which the bridal party changed into costumes. I assist mostly by lurking in shadows, staying out of shots, and holding up lights. At the appointed hour, we opened up our regular workclothes to reveal...he was wearing a Spider-Man costume t-shirt and I was wearing a Venom one.

We are the wedding photographers I want.

On the Metro-North train home, everyone -- literally EVERYONE on board was in costume. Most of it sexy. I'm not sure how to feel about Sexy Cat in the Hat, though. Compromised.